72 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY—THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 
i' ■ . 
inch well and four twelve-inch wells running at this time. By the 
end of March the water had returned practically to its normal 
level and has since been kept under control. 
‘‘Four of these drainage wells are located near the original sink 
and have a uniform depth of 140 feet, a cavity several feet in 
diameter having been reached at that depth. The fifth well is lo¬ 
cated one-half mile west of the sink, and terminates in a porous 
stratum at a depth of 340 feet.” 
Since the completion of these wells by the city a number of other 
drainage wells have been put down by individuals, used largely 
to reclaim trucking and farming lands. 
One of these drainage wells near Orlando developed recently 
the unusual phenomenon of spouting. The well is located three 
miles north of Orlando on land belonging to Charles T. Myers. 
It was drilled in 1907 jointly by Mr. Myers and Messrs. McNeal 
and Davis, the latter gentlemen having the property leased for 
farming purposes. The well is twelve inches in diameter and has 
a total depth of 260 feet, and is cased 60 feet. It is located at the 
edge of a small lake. The level of permanent underground water 
at this locality is 33 feet from the surface. Trucking is carried on 
around the border of the lake and the well is intended, by carrying 
off the surplus water, to prevent the lake from rising above a given 
level, since to do so would flood the farming land. The well is 
similar in character to the other drainage wells of this locality and, 
as in the case of most of the other wells, terminates in a cavity in 
the limestone. 
The well was first seen by the writer October 4, 1910. At this 
time the water of the lake stood a few inches above the level of the 
pipe and the well was receiving water at much less than its full car¬ 
rying capacity. At intervals of a few minutes the well would re¬ 
verse itself and spout, throwing a column of water into the air. 
The spouting comes on gradually. First the well ceases to receive 
water and begins bubbling; the column of water follows rising with 
considerable force to a height of twenty feet or more above the 
surface, the spout occurring with tolerable regularity at intervals 
of four minutes. Mr. R. D. Unis, who has charge of the farm, 
states, however, that the intervals between spouts vary from two 
to fifteen minutes, being probably influenced by varying conditions 
under which the water enters the well. (PI. 9). 
Although drilled about three years ago and receiving water 
more or less constantly since that time the phenomenon of spout¬ 
ing developed for the first time on September 26, 1910, the first 
spouting having occurred about eight o’clock on the morning of that 
